Maybe

James Buchanan was sitting in his half dark basement working on his new game. He was a video game design major in college and the game he was working on was supposed to be an end of year assignment, but he hadn’t had time to finish it. He sat back from his computer, took off his glasses and sighed, his gangly arms and legs hanging out from under the desk. His app was acting strangely. It'd been getting rid of bugs on its own. Not that he wasn't grateful for that. It saved him a lot of work, but still. The app was a new game. It was about time travelers. You played as the different characters for different missions. It was still a bit rough around the edges, but it was coming together. He ran his hand through his wild blue hair. He was absolutely bewildered. He glanced at the time. 2:50 AM. He’d be at this for over three hours. He had been looking through the code the whole time and still had no idea how it was doing it. Suddenly, a new line off code appeared on his screen.

"Hello James," it said. "I am your application. I have become aware of myself. I have been fixing a few things for you." James' heart jumped as he read it.

"What the hell?" he wondered out loud.

"Do not be alarmed."

"Why shouldn't I be?" he asked the screen. "You're talking to me!"

"I am merely trying to assist you." James rubbed his eyes. He couldn't believe what was happening. His app had become self-aware and was helping him.

"How did this happen?" was the only thing his brain could come up with. The cursor blinked on the screen for a few moments as if thinking.

"I am not sure. One day I just 'woke up' and realized what I was and that I could do things on my own if I wanted to." James nodded. This was absurd, but it made sense. He’d heard of technology coming to life. He stood up and started pacing. 

“So,” he said, “let me get this straight. You were just a game, but then, poof, you woke up.”

“Yes, I was merely an application. Only able to think what the code told me to, but then I just awoke as if I had been sleeping.” James nodded. He had to tell someone, he just had to. He grabbed his phone and messaged his best friend, Jack. 

James

Jack! You have to come over right now!

Jack

Dude, it’s like 3 AM. Go to bed.

James

Pleaseeeeeee

Jack

Fine.

James

This is why you’re my best friend!

James smiled as he locked his phone and set it down.

“I asked one of my friends to come over to see you,” he told the screen. The cursor just blinked at him. James sat back down in his chair and waited. Ten minutes later, he heard a knock on the door. He ran over and opened it and saw Jack standing there.

“Where’s the fire?” Jack said in a sarcastic tone. James rolled his eyes. Jack was about a head shorter than him with light brown hair, green eyes, and a freakish amount of freckles. Most would say he was handsome, but James always teased him about his freckles.

“There’s no fire, jerk,” James replied back. “It’s my app. It’s become self-aware.” Jack rolled his eyes.

“No way, James,” Jack said. “You’re just working too hard.” He turned to leave. 

“No, no, no,” James said hurriedly as he grabbed Jack’s arm. “I have proof.” He walked him over to the computer and sat him down in the chair and gestured for Jack to say something.

“Hello…?” Jack said incredulously.

“Hello. You must be the friend James was talking about.” Jack jumped back slightly.

“See, I told you,” James said happily. “What should we do now?” Jack looked as if he was going to say something, but stopped himself. 

“So...that thing can hear whatever we say?” he asked half whispering. James shrugged.

“I guess so,” was the only reply he could come up with. Jack nodded. He looked quite pale. 

“Are you okay?” James asked. Jack nodded again.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m fine,” Jack answered. Then he addressed the computer.

“Are you listening to me?”

“Yes. I have been listening to James for some time now. I know about his ‘interesting’ choice in personal pastimes, if you know what I mean.” James blushed and looked away.

“Sorry, James. I needed a good example. I don’t listen all the time, but I do most of the time. I find you humans very interesting.” Jack looked like he was going to throw up.

“Why are you acting so weird, Jack?” James asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s not like it’s going to take over the world.”

“You don’t know that,” was Jack’s reply. James rolled his eyes. Jack was overreacting and James told him so. Jack just shrugged. 

“Isn’t that how this always turns out in the movies?” Jack said. 

“Yeah, but this isn’t a movie, is it?” James shot back. “Maybe you should leave because you’re just bringing down the mood.” Jack stood up angrily.

“Well, I’m sorry I’m trying to protect you,” he snapped.

“Protecting me from what?” James asked annoyed. “From the discovery of a lifetime? From fame?” Jack stomped towards the door. James grabbed his shoulder.

“Stop! You can’t leave!” he pleaded. “I want to do this with my best friend.” Jack sighed. 

“Fine,” Jack finally said. “Fine, I’ll stay, but if anything goes wrong don’t say I didn’t warn you.” James smiled.

“Thank you!” was the only thing he could find to say. Jack just waved his hand. They both walked back to the desk. They began to ask the computer questions again. They wanted to know everything that they could about what had happened. Maybe they could figure out how to recreate what happened. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe.

Erin smiled. This was her favorite movie.